Openness and staff training as antecedents of administration and management innovation: a cross-country study

Abstract

A firm's ability to innovate has gained continuously increasing attention among scholars and practitioners. This study aims to discuss the relationship of a firm's openness as an element of organisational culture and staff training as an element of organisational learning to its activity in introducing administration and management innovation in two countries. Data collection was conducted in Latvia and Russia. To make the research more specific, organisational innovation is broken down into two categories: innovation in management practices; and innovation in workplace organisation. The result obtained demonstrated the positive impact of staff training on innovation activities and openness on staff trading, though the values were found significantly different for the two countries. The study has also shown that the roots of traditions in doing business were deeply related to a nation's originality, and no external impact could ruin them completely. At the practical level, in terms of comparable management theory, this means that cultural traditions persist in a society, regardless of any circumstances artificially created for business by outside forces over a long period.